Sri Lanka's Nuwan Pradeep picked up six wickets against India in the first Test at Galle.(Reuters)

After getting out to a short ball, Virat Kohli can expect a barrage of bouncers during the course of the series, especially early in the innings when his feet are not moving well. Though he did say as much, Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler so far in the Test, Nuwan Pradeep, said he was delighted that the plan for Kohli was working out.

“For a batsman like him, we plan a lot. It was one of our plans that worked against him, and I’m really happy about that,” said Pradeep, who claimed a six-wicket haul in the first innings.

“He’s one of the best batsmen in the world. I’m very happy to have got him out like that,” the bowler said.

Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Chaminda Vaas said they worked on the short ball plan after seeing that the wicket was good for batting. “We had a few plans as well, but we saw that the wicket is really good for batting. We thought of surprising the India batsmen by bowling a few bouncers,” said Vaas.